I disagree that it's completely useless. OTOH, I don't disagree that the best hackers will learn it on their own. I do, however, think that there's a lot of gray areas in between.
There are business schools, technical schools, and so on. Why not classes on hacking? Sure the information is available on the web, however a (decent) school has experienced staff that can gather & disseminate their knowledge in a focused manner. With Internet research, there can be numerous dead ends.
Additionally, not everyone wants to or has the time to become a l33t h4ck3r. They may just want to get a reasonable level of understanding of the issues in a reasonably short timeframe.
I understand it's difficult when you don't have the administrative privileges. Certainly, when I go into systems that I don't have privilege, it feels cramped. Cryptic password policies don't help much either.;)
"I work at a company where IT felt having a password that is so convoluted "
I'd call that jumping all over IT.
Being from IT myself and having to implement a more complex password policy, it's not like we wanted folks to have a convoluted password. In our case, we got several branches involved, and had to make a tradeoff between security and usability, and it's something that we've had to struggle with for a long time. It's been a challenge for us AND our users.
Similarly, we investigated implementing a certificate/smartcard infrastructure, however senior management (non-IT VP's) balked at the deployment and ongoing support costs.
Finally, I think your statement "I think the natural reaction from most admins is to not think further about the impacts their changes will make." shows a lack of understanding of the analysis and decision making that goes on in IT. In our case, end users and striving for best practices are at the top of our list.
The person could have donated the books to the Salvation Army or a Thrift Store, or sold them to a used bookstore. Your response, however was spoken like a true extremist.
Having been burned with online pre-ordered games, my son and I buy our games at either EBGames or Future Shop (in Canada). If it's not in one store, I go to the other(s).
The guys that pre-ordered their games online get their copy a week later and pay shipping to boot.
I also purchase older games as well, i.e. just picked up a new copy of Civ3 for $10 last week at EBGames.
Expecting the clerks to have expert knowledge of 'Latest Game III' is unreasonable IMHO, as they probably get paid squat, and probably don't get much time at work for training/education.
I do my research in advance at sites such as Gamespot or Wargamers, etc.
It's all about demographics.
They're targeting customers who are willing to pay for a superior online service.
You don't fit in that category, and that's fine.
Slashdot Mirror
I was thinking more along the lines of "Apollo on Geritol."
To me, it's all about technical specs, and forget the flashy case.
I'd put that money towards a larger/more reliable power supply instead.
Of course, AMD CPU all the way. .
After almost 25 years of games for my PC, starting with Microsoft's Olympic Decathalon, I've become a little more discerning.
Right now, I'm waiting for Duke Nukem Forever and Harpoon 4.
I disagree that it's completely useless. OTOH, I don't disagree that the best hackers will learn it on their own. I do, however, think that there's a lot of gray areas in between.
There are business schools, technical schools, and so on. Why not classes on hacking? Sure the information is available on the web, however a (decent) school has experienced staff that can gather & disseminate their knowledge in a focused manner. With Internet research, there can be numerous dead ends.
Additionally, not everyone wants to or has the time to become a l33t h4ck3r. They may just want to get a reasonable level of understanding of the issues in a reasonably short timeframe.
In high school, I remember saying something along the lines of . .. "These ballpoint pens today just aren't the same".
I'm sure my daughter will be saying something along those lines when the successor to the gel pens comes out. . .
Same storyline, different generation.
No problem.
;)
I understand it's difficult when you don't have the administrative privileges. Certainly, when I go into systems that I don't have privilege, it feels cramped. Cryptic password policies don't help much either.
"I work at a company where IT felt having a password that is so convoluted "
I'd call that jumping all over IT.
Being from IT myself and having to implement a more complex password policy, it's not like we wanted folks to have a convoluted password. In our case, we got several branches involved, and had to make a tradeoff between security and usability, and it's something that we've had to struggle with for a long time. It's been a challenge for us AND our users.
Similarly, we investigated implementing a certificate/smartcard infrastructure, however senior management (non-IT VP's) balked at the deployment and ongoing support costs.
Finally, I think your statement "I think the natural reaction from most admins is to not think further about the impacts their changes will make." shows a lack of understanding of the analysis and decision making that goes on in IT. In our case, end users and striving for best practices are at the top of our list.
The person could have donated the books to the Salvation Army or a Thrift Store, or sold them to a used bookstore. Your response, however was spoken like a true extremist.
Must be a paid up Slashdotter!
I thought it was tennis elbow.
I hear Duke Nukem Forever is a release title for the console.
Heck, I made a colour organ in MASM that had decent animation in a little known CGA mode between 80x25 and 320x200.
I think he could've done better than 80x25 graphics mode. . . .
Finally, Flight Simulator 2.0 ran on the 5150, and it was sweet..
Having been burned with online pre-ordered games, my son and I buy our games at either EBGames or Future Shop (in Canada). If it's not in one store, I go to the other(s). The guys that pre-ordered their games online get their copy a week later and pay shipping to boot. I also purchase older games as well, i.e. just picked up a new copy of Civ3 for $10 last week at EBGames. Expecting the clerks to have expert knowledge of 'Latest Game III' is unreasonable IMHO, as they probably get paid squat, and probably don't get much time at work for training/education. I do my research in advance at sites such as Gamespot or Wargamers, etc.
It's all about demographics. They're targeting customers who are willing to pay for a superior online service. You don't fit in that category, and that's fine.
Hmm, sounds all to familiar. . . Here, we add parties to our list. In Soviet Russia, the party add US to their list.